As fraud and violent crime in our society is escalating, video monitoring/surveillance is being increasingly used to either deter the criminals or collect acceptable evidence against the perpetrators. These video-based systems include outdoor surveillance of the violence prone public spaces as well as the indoor surveillance of the automatic teller machines (ATMs) and stores/malls. Some of the indoor monitoring may involve relatively low resolution imagery while other video footage may be highly detailed and intrusive. For instance, the Forward Looking Infrared (FLIR) video technology enables acquiring visual information beyond common physical barriers (e.g., walls) and millimeter radar enables visualization of the naked human body of a fully clothed person.
Like collection of any other personal data (e.g., name, telephone numbers, address, credit card information), acquisition of video footage is also raising many concerns among the public about their privacy. The public would like to know who all are collecting their video footage and where this video information is being collected. What level of detailed imagery does the acquired data consists? Who will have access to the video or the processed results? To what purpose the acquired video information will/can be used? Will they know when the video footage is abused (e.g., used for the purpose beyond its intended/publicized purpose)? Can people have control over the video which contains their personal information (e.g., can they demand destruction of such data?).
Increased automation can be used for gleaning individual information over extended periods of time and/or providing highly individualized content service to the contracted parties. This disclosure provides a means of reaching agreeable conditions for exchanging (or not-exchanging) sensitive individual information as it relates to the content provided by video/images of people infested environments.